{"id":9343,"date":"2015-11-10T13:52:16","date_gmt":"2015-11-10T18:52:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/?p=9343"},"modified":"2015-11-10T13:55:58","modified_gmt":"2015-11-10T18:55:58","slug":"torrey-c-brown-rail-trail-inducted-into-rail-trail-hall-of-fame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/2015\/11\/10\/torrey-c-brown-rail-trail-inducted-into-rail-trail-hall-of-fame\/","title":{"rendered":"Torrey C. Brown Rail Trail Inducted into Rail-Trail Hall of Fame"},"content":{"rendered":"

Slated to become a part of the Grand History Trail linking Maryland, Pennsylvania and D.C.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"

Monkton Train Station<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

The Torrey C. Brown Rail Trail<\/a> earned the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy\u2019s highest award today at a ceremony in York, Pa., when it was inducted into the Rail-Trail Hall of Fame along with its connecting Pennsylvania counterpart, the Heritage Rail Trail County Park.<\/p>\n

Out of more than 1,900 trails in the rail trail network nationwide, only 29 hold this title.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are grateful to the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy for their recognition of the Torrey C. Brown Rail Trail,\u201d Maryland Department of Natural Resources Secretary Mark Belton said. \u201cThis award will serve as an added draw for tourism while honoring a great Marylander who made a tremendous contribution to our state\u2019s natural resources.”<\/p>\n

Named in honor of Maryland\u2019s third Natural Resources secretary, the Torrey C. Brown Rail Trail follows approximately 20 miles of the former Northern Central Railway in northern Baltimore County and serves nearly 400,000 users annually.<\/p>\n

Extending from Ashland, Maryland north to the Maryland-Pennsylvania line, the trail winds through historic communities including Phoenix, Monkton, White Hall, Bentley Springs and Freeland. North of the state line, the trail continues to York.<\/p>\n

The two trails cover 44 miles along the railway corridor and serve as an important link in the proposed 300-mile Grand History Trail, which would connect Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Annapolis, York, Hanover and Gettysburg. The trail network would take users on a tour through 250 years of American history.<\/p>\n

Originally chartered in 1828, this stretch played an important role during the Civil War. Troops used the railroad to travel south to Washington, and President Abraham Lincoln rode the train to deliver the Gettysburg Address. The railroad also carried President Lincoln north to Pennsylvania after he was assassinated in 1865.<\/p>\n

The railroad continued to operate until 1972 when Tropical Storm Agnes destroyed many of the bridges. It was purchased by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources in 1980 for development as a rail trail.<\/p>\n

\"\"

The late Torrey C. Brown<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

The late\u00a0Secretary Brown was the major driving force in developing the abandoned railroad as the state\u2019s first multi-use recreational trail. Overcoming considerable opposition to the recreational trail concept, it opened in 1984 and thus began an incredible success story. By the end of the decade, the trail had blossomed under Brown\u2019s leadership into a national model of what could be done with abandoned railroad property.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese trail systems are receiving our highest award because they are truly exemplary,\u201d Liz Thorstensen, the conservancy\u2019s vice president of trail development said. \u201cBoth are significant to the rail trail movement in their own right, and we\u2019re honored to give them the designation that they absolutely deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rail-Trail Hall of Fame trails are selected based on scenic value, value of use, amenities, historical significance, excellence in management and maintenance, community connections and geographic distribution. Learn more at\u00a0www.railstotrails.org.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Slated to become a part of the Grand History Trail linking Maryland, Pennsylvania and D.C. The Torrey C. Brown Rail Trail earned the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy\u2019s highest award today at a ceremony in York, Pa., when it was inducted into the Rail-Trail Hall of Fame along with its connecting Pennsylvania counterpart, the Heritage Rail Trail County  Read the Rest…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[957,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appnews","category-parks"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9343"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9343\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9350,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9343\/revisions\/9350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}